Uconn

UConn women: Sophomore Kiah Stokes believes she can make an impact BY ROGER CLEAVELAND REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

STORRS — At 6-foot-3 with a sleek, muscular body, sophomore Kiah Stokes knows she has the physical tools to help the No. 3-ranked UConn women's basketball team win a national championship. She can be a physical, shot-blocking presence in the lane. She can rip down rebounds and run the floor as well as any big post player.

Two things seem to be holding her back, however. The first is a nagging stress reaction in her right shin that appears to be finally getting better after forcing her to sit out six games.

She hasn't worked through the inconsistencies in effort, focus and confidence that have kept her from playing up to her potential. She is still trying to understand the difference between what she felt was hard work in high school and what the coaches are demanding now. She wants to change so she play more than the 12.2 minutes per game she's averaged heading into tonight's game in Cincinnati (8-10).

"So each day I'm trying to make strides in terms of hustle so hopefully there won't be any question about my work ethic or my motivation or any of that kind of thing," Stokes said. "I know I have it in me. I've just got to forget about fears. I need to not have any more worries about messing up because that's when I mess up. Once I put that in the back of my mind, everything else should just come with it."

She said her freshman season was eye-opening in terms of how demanding practices could be. She came into this season believing that she could handle the work and realizing it was her responsibility to adapt to the needs of the program if she wanted to make the most of her abilities.

"I don't know why I keep struggling," Stokes said. "I talked to Coach, and he was like, 'When have you actually tried something your hardest and failed?' And the honest answer is I haven't. So he was like, 'So why take that now?' I'm not sure why. Mentally I just get frustrated very easily, and then when all the coaches get on me, I kind of just break down. But I'm trying this year to stop doing that, and each day I'm making strides. But I need to make bigger strides and faster."

Stokes said that as she sees her teammates improving and maturing into their potential as a great team, she feels more urgency to be part of it. Auriemma is hopeful now that Stokes and freshman forward Morgan Tuck (severe knee bruise) both appear to be fairly healthy that they can begin making real progress and contribute more to take the Huskies (17-1) to their next stage of development.

"Obviously, you want to impress upon them that we are a good team without them, but I don't think we will be a great team unless they contribute," Auriemma said. "That goes for the two of them, Breanna Stewart, Brianna Banks, Moriah Jefferson. If we just go with the four guys we had last year, they took us to the Final Four. Adding the guys we have, if they contribute the way I think they can, we ought to be a much better team. But they need to be consistent in their contributions."

Stokes has not scored more than two points since the fifth game of the season when she tallied six against Purdue. Nonetheless, she's very capable of pulling down 7-8 rebounds and blocking 3-4 shots if she plays with confidence and aggression.

She played only six minutes against Duke but had two rebounds and two blocked shots. The game before, in 12 minutes against Louisville, she had six rebounds, three blocks and an assist. She's proven she can be efficient in short spurts. Now she has to learn to play longer with consistent effort.

She believes she can make an impact this year. She said she can run the floor better than starting center Stefanie Dolson because she is more agile. She knows that if she can give Dolson a rest periodically, the team will benefit greatly.

"I know it's my mindset that's holding me back, and once I get past that there won't be any problems," Stokes said. "I think long-term (the goal) is to just be a better player. But this year I know I can post up more than I have been. I can run the floor more than I have been, which could be easy baskets. But what I definitely know I can do is (play) defense, so I start with that and then offense should come naturally after that."

Senior Kelly Faris said the team is going to keep pushing Stokes and Tuck to be more accountable.

"You're always going to want more from everybody," Faris said.

"There's never a level of satisfaction. There's never a time you think, 'OK, we're good. Everybody just bring that every day and we'll be OK.' That's not how it works here. So I think in time they'll figure it out. Until then, I think we have to take what we can get."

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